


keeping the lights on

by hailingstars



Series: tumblr [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Airports, Anxiety, Everyone Is Alive, Fluff and Angst, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Endgame, Separation Anxiety, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-27 06:13:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19784887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hailingstars/pseuds/hailingstars
Summary: Tony laughed it off and squeezed him in closer. “It’ll be fine. You’ll go, you’ll execute the plan – “Peter’s head whipped to the side and he looked at him in shock, and in horror. “How do you know about the plan?”“Morgan is a sneak and a snitch,” explained Tony. “If you want your secrets to stay secrets maybe don’t talk about them in this house without checking under the furniture first. She told me you want to sit in a tree with a girl named MJ. I’m assuming she meant – “ORTony helps Peter cope with endgame related trauma, and they both have trouble saying goodbye to each other when Tony drops him off at the airport for his class trip to Europe.





	keeping the lights on

**Author's Note:**

> happy friday! just wanted to post a short little ficlet thingy to get back to writing, hope you enjoy!

Peter’s eyes were fixed on the TV. His hands worked the controller, and his head was at an angle. He was so completely focused on his game, on plowing through the final level, he hadn’t heard Tony coming into his bedroom until he cleared his throat, loudly.

He jumped in place, and his thumb jerked upward, throwing his avatar straight into the enemy’s sword. 

Peter let out a disappointed breath as his screen faded out and it was replaced by the game over message, greening blinking letters telling him he died. 

“I almost had that one beat,” said Peter, turning his head, and looking up at Tony from his place on the floor, in front of the TV.

“Do you know how late it is?”

“Uh,” said Peter. He searched under candy wrappers for his phone, but couldn’t find it. That didn’t matter, though. Tony was ready and willing to answer his own question.

“It’s 3:38 AM.” 

Peter dropped his controller to the carpet but traced the top of the joystick with his finger. He looked away from Tony, and back at the screen, where the same message blinked over and over again. 

_You died you died you died_

He couldn’t stop staring at it, even though he knew he should, even though he felt a stare burning the back of his head and knew that stare meant Tony was demanding his attention.

Tony. He was Tony now, and that was different from Mr. Stark. Tony was older, softer, and had lived five years Peter had missed. 

His footsteps got closer, until a blanket was draped over Peter’s shoulders, and he dropped down to the carpet to sit next to him. 

“Kid, you have to be on a plane in six hours,” said Tony. “What are you doing still awake?” 

Peter kept watching the repeated message on the screen. 

“Why doesn’t Stark Industries start manufacturing game consoles?” asked Peter. “I’d bet you’d make a killing.”

“Uh, we already make a killing, in case you haven’t noticed, and maybe we’re just waiting for the right person to invent it, but don’t change the subject. What’s wrong?” 

He lifted his finger from the controller and tugged the edges of the blanket instead. Something about it made him feel smaller. That felt more accurate. They were all really small compared to what was out there in universe and that would probably haunt him forever.

He shrugged, attempted to play it off. “Just not tired.” 

“Pete. Come on.”

“Okay, so maybe I had a nightmare,” said Peter. He felt like if he kept staring at the screen, it might burn his eyes out, but still, he couldn’t look away. He couldn’t look at Tony. 

“Yeah…” He waited for Peter to elaborate. 

Tony knew all about his nightmares. He was the one who stayed up with him, who rubbed his back or played with his hair until he fell back asleep, when May wasn’t around to be there for him, or just when Peter spent the week with his second family out at the lake house. 

“And it just got me thinking,” he said. “Maybe I shouldn’t go to Europe. It’s just, it’s really far.” 

Not as far as space, but that had been different. Peter had had Mr. Stark in that spaceship with him, and on that planet when he faded from existence, but in Europe, he’d have no one. Not anyone who could talk him down from a nightmare or calm him down during an episode. 

Being away from home, being away from his family that _was_ his home, when his mind and his spirit was so fragile, felt daunting, like a living nightmare. 

Tony sighed, stretched, wrapped an arm around him. “Oh kid, I think you should. It’ll be good for you. You need time with your friends. Time to be a normal kid, like we talked about.” 

_you died you died you died_ repeated as if to remind him normal was impossible, although he supposed he had a lot to be thankful for. Ned and MJ got snapped, too. They died, came back, and were still the same age.

“I could come with you, I’m sure the school would be thrilled to have another chaperone.”

“Please don’t.”

Before the snap, Peter used daydream about Mr. Stark showing up at his school. Maybe Flash would shut the hell up and stop annoying him, and his classmates would stop believing he was lying about the Stark internship, but now, it was different. 

Tony chaperoning his field trip had the same horror as May tagging along on a date or listening into one of his and Ned’s private conversations.

Tony laughed it off and squeezed him in closer. “It’ll be fine. You’ll go, you’ll execute the plan – “ 

Peter’s head whipped to the side and he looked at him in shock, and in horror. “How do you know about the plan?” 

“Morgan is a sneak and a snitch,” explained Tony. “If you want your secrets to stay secrets maybe don’t talk about them in this house without checking under the furniture first. She told me you want to sit in a tree with a girl named MJ. I’m assuming she meant – “ 

“-Yeah, yeah,” Peter rushed out, anything to get Tony to stop talking. 

“Well MJ must be pretty great.” 

“Yeah, she is.” 

He thought about her, and he thought about Ned, and supposed he wasn’t completely alone on his trip, supposed maybe his brain was playing tricks on him, like it liked to do. Maybe after sleeping, even just these few hours he had left, Europe would sound like a good idea again.

“So, come on, let’s get you to bed,” said Tony, as he stood up. He offered a hand up to Peter, and he took it. “I’ll sit with you until you fall asleep.”

“Okay,” said Peter, with a nod. “Just… keep the lights on.” 

“Of course." 

Peter burrowed under his comforter, and he felt his bed dip with Tony’s weight. Tony sticking around in his room, sitting on his bed, telling him old MIT stories until he fell asleep, used to feel weird, at least for him. Now it was normal. Comforting. Something he was afraid to lose when he was staying in hotels around Europe. 

He closed his eyes. He fell asleep while Tony rubbed his back. 

* 

Morning was a rush. A rush to jam last minute items in his suit, to scarf down the breakfast Tony made him, and to hug Morgan and Pepper goodbye. Him and Tony gave one last wave as they sped off towards the airport and arrived at destination way too soon.

Tony walked him all the way to security, and once they got to the place where Tony could no longer follow, they both stopped. Stared at each other. Tony one his hands on Peter’s shoulders, looked him up and down, then picked a piece of lent off his shirt.

“Sure you got everything?”

Peter nodded. 

“Passport?” 

“ _Yes_ ,” said Peter. He’d been asked that at least twelve times that morning. Twice by Pepper, a few more times by Tony, and the rest by Morgan, who liked to mock her parents. 

“Okay, alright. Listen, I sent you a playlist to download before you get on the plane. Songs we listen to in the workshop, so if you have a nightmare, headphones on, good music, eyes shut. It’ll be like being at home, right?” 

Peter nodded again, and wondered who Tony was trying to convince, wondered if he would be listening to that playlist, too. 

“And I put something else in your suitcase, in case you have a bad night,” said Tony. He looked at Peter, and before he knew it, he was being pulled into a hug that knocked the air out of him. “You know this isn’t easy for me, either. After I lost you, and you came back… I, I didn’t want to let go of you.” 

Peter knew, but it was still nice to hear. Mr. Stark from before the snap might’ve frame it as a joke, but Tony, though he still struggled sharing his feelings sometimes, said it outright. 

They stood there, hugging each other, for a long time. At least a couple of minutes. Maybe ten, and it was clear Tony wasn’t letting go of him unless Peter did something to make it happen. 

“Does the playlist have that one song?” 

“What song?”

“You know the back in black one? By Led Zeppelin?”

Tony released him immediately, sucked in a breath and pointed to the line going through security. “Out. Get out of my sight.”

Peter gave him a grin, grabbed his bags, and went to the back of the line. He was only standing there long enough for a just a few people to get behind him before the wave of panic came back. He turned, and saw Tony was still there, distracted by his phone. 

He bolted from the line and caught Tony off-guard with one last hug. 

“Bye, Tony,” said Peter, slamming his head into Tony’s chest, where the arc reactor used to glow blue. 

Tony ruffled his hair. “Bye, kid. Have fun in Europe.” 

Peter hustled back into line, and the next time he looked back, when he was almost at the front of the line, Tony was gone.

Once he found his gate, he sat down, unzipped his suitcase and found what Tony had left for him. An old, black, AC/DC hoodie that he put on immediately. It was too big, but it felt like home.

**Author's Note:**

> so idk why Peter had his light switch taped with that sign to not turn off in the movie, probably something low-income apartment related, like it was broken or something, but I like to imagine it's something angsty, ptsd related so there it is 
> 
> come hang out on Tumblr if you want 
> 
> [hailing-stars](https://hailing-stars.tumblr.com)
> 
> kudos and comments let me know what you think, thanks so much for reading


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